ARK: Survival Evolved is one of the most demanding games of all. The base map alone needs about 6 GB – that's why our ARK servers start with 8 GB.
Guide values
| What you play | Recommendation |
|---|---|
| The Island, up to 10 players, few mods | 8 GB |
| Larger maps (e.g. Ragnarok, Fjordur, Genesis) or some mods | 10–11 GB |
| Many mods, 20+ players or very large bases | 12–13 GB |
What else affects it
- Map: You choose the map in the startup variables (
SERVER_MAP). Larger maps need more. - Mods: Every mod loads extra content. Choose mods conveniently in the Mods tab – how it works.
- Dinos and buildings: Many tamed dinos and large bases grow over time.
Start small, upgrade later
You don't have to decide right away: you can change the memory yourself at any time – your world, mods and settings stay, and on an upgrade you only pay the pro-rata difference. See Booking more or less memory.
On the server page, the history shows how much memory your server really uses and recommends a suitable tier if needed – more on this. If it lags even though memory is free, more CPU power usually helps more.
Try it out
You can test the ARK server free for 24 hours – how it works. To order: Rent a ARK server.